"Do you love Ekta that much?"
Shyla's eyes were brimming with tears. She had loved this man for so long, but he would always give her a view of his back.
Nolan did not hesitate at all. "What do you think? Of course, I only love her. Marrying you was not initially my intention. You know that. After divorcing you, I will marry her as soon as possible."
The divorce agreement landed in Shyla's hands. Looking at the several eye-catching words on it, Shyla gripped the paper. Their five-year marriage had come to an end only because of Ekta. She was willing to get a divorce from Nolan, but there was a big misunderstanding between them. Ekta would laugh gleefully and she would not die knowing this.
Shyla took the agreement into her hands and ripped it apart into shreds, and she tossed the shreds to the side and looked at Nolan with an expressionless face. "I've changed my mind."
Her words successfully infuriated Nolan. His face darkened, and in a fit of rage, he whipped his hand out and tightened it around Shyla's neck. Being choked, Shyla immediately found that she couldn't breathe. The sense of suffocation made her feel as if she now walked alongside the fine boundary between life and death itself.
Such strength from Nolan. He would go as far as to choke her to death, simply because she wouldn't agree to be divorced.
He dragged Shyla out of bed. "I knew you were calculative. You pretend to have a stomachache to avoid divorce. How could you be so confident and courageous as to play tricks on me over and over again?"
"This is the result that Ekta wanted, not me. I won't let her marry you. If I could have a choice, I wanted to push her off so that she would break into pieces!"
Shyla had fallen into a trap. She hated Ekta for making her suffer from such treatment.
Nolan glared at Shyla. A furious look appeared on his face as he said, "What did you say?"
"I said that Ekta is a two-faced b*tch!"
While they were quarreling, her attending doctor and three other nurses came to the room, to check on her condition.
Hearing what Shyla said, Nolan's eyes grew even colder, and mere moments later, in front of everyone's eyes, Nolan slapped Shyla hard in her face.
The slap was solid and heavy, and the sheer force of the impact knocked Shyla a few steps backward, as well as forcibly turned her head to the other side, and she fell to the bed. Her face began swelling immediately.
With a burning sensation in her cheeks, Shyla knelt on the floor. With both her hands supporting herself against the bed, tears streamed down her face as she buried herself in her chest.
The doctor and nurses who entered the room left immediately after receiving the glare from Nolan.
"Shyla, do you know what I regret the most in my life? That was knowing you! Shyla, the gods must be blind to let such a venomous woman like you live in this world. If not for that old bag of bones that you call father, if not for his last wish, how would I ever be married to you in the first place? The one that I loved is Ekta. Nolan said coldly. After saying that, Nolan left without looking back.
The wards that Nolan said felt like someone had pierced her heart over and again with the tip of a needle, and it hurt like hell. Lying on the bed, Shyla wailed in pain. She was in turmoil as she cried hysterically while clutching her womb.
"Nolan, do you know the thing I regret the most? That is falling in love with you in my life."
Those two days, Shyla was alone in the hospital. Shyla had no family or relatives. After her father had passed away five years ago, her mother, who had divorced her father, didn't care about her. She left her alone. So, Shyla was left with nothing now.
Although her life was dull, there was always something interesting in her life.
That was Vivaan.
Vivaan and Shyla had been classmates since they were in primary school. After Shyla got married, he gradually faded out of Shyla's life. Now that Shyla and Nolan fell out with each other, he would certainly come over to take care of Shyla.
However, Shyla was indifferent towards him, as she loved no one but Nolan.
Vivaan came to see her from time to time, but he only saw her standing in front of the window every time he came. This lasted for a week until she finally spoke to him, but the first sentence she said was to tell him not to come and see her anymore.
Frowning, Vivaan said solemnly, "Nolan is getting a divorce with you. You are staying in this room for this long. Does he ever come to see you? Not as a husband, at least as a friend or an acquaintance. We have grown up like buddies since high school, haven't we? He doesn't even care about you, let alone love. But, you have been married to him for five years, at least, like those times also, he didn't even feel responsible for you, even without love... You are carrying his son, and still, he is indifferent to you. Yet are you still thinking of him?"
Shyla shook her head. No matter how much she thought of Nolan, how much she loved Nolan, how much she longed for Nolan's care, love, affection. It was useless as he had already given his heart to Ekta. Shyla turned her head and her face was as pale as a sheet of white paper.
Looking at her current condition, Vivaan panicked. Why was she like that? he thought. She was merely pregnant, but she looked so haggard as if he would break her into pieces with a simple touch. He felt sad in his heart. He couldn't bear to see her like that.
He was furious when he found out how Nolan had treated Shyla for the past 5 years. He wanted to teach Nolan a lesson.
"I don't want to get you into trouble, Vivaan. I know you are a good guy. We've known each other for so many years. You should know me by now."
"No, I don't and the only thing I know is that Nolan doesn't deserve you!" he said monotonously.
She almost forgot that she was the only one who knew about her cancer. The others were still unaware, so she turned back and asked, "It's the Mid-Autumn Festival. I want to eat some mooncakes. Can you buy them for me?"
He felt happy and her words gave him hope for Vivaan. Vivaan nodded and quickly dashed out to buy Shyla some mooncakes enthusiastically like a child.
After Vivaan went out, Shyla felt sorry and sad for Vivaan. Shyla dragged her tired body out of the ward. Her body had almost recovered and she wanted to leave without saying goodbye to Vivaan so that he would not find something amiss about her.
But before she left the hospital, she wanted to see Nolan. Perhaps it was just like what Ruhi and Vivaan said, the only one in her heart was Nolan. No matter how many times he hurt her, she did not hesitate to get close to him.
"Shyla, you're asking for it to be in this state," she reprimanded herself.
Ekta was discharged from the hospital today.
There was nothing wrong with her, yet it took more than a month for her to be discharged. Shyla stood by the door of the ward and looked through the window at the people inside.